Since winning the Bahamas Self Starter award, and launching a successful road-works company, 25-year-old Atario Mitchell has not forgotten his roots. In fact, the owner of Bahamas Striping considers helping other Bahamians a top priority.

"From the onset I decided to implement our training policy that would alow for the empowerment of our 100 percent Bahamian staff," he said.

"I am convinced that if we can afford young Bahamian men the opportunity to learn and become skilled in various vocational and technical fields, we will curb the social meltdown that we are seeing in our country today."

One year ago, with just $5,000 through the Self Starter program, Mitchell has made Bahamas Striping a creditable leader in road construction and maintenance. The company is currently training seven staff as it prepares for involvement in the Baha Mar development, airport phase two and three, the Chinese Airport Gateway and the new stadium projects, he added.

Romell Davis, a 18-year-old Bahamian, is one young professional that has been given the chance to succeed. After beginning his training by learning how to mark and measure the stripes on car parks and roads, he proved himself as a dedicated worker during the Carl Treco development at Southwest Plaza, and went on to master more complicated tasks. Mitchell said he is proud of his young employee, and said Davis is a perfect example of a local being trained in an area often occupied by a foreigner.

"This job has given me hope," Davis said.

"Before I came to Bahamas Striping, I was pretty much on my own.  I didn't know where I was going to get money to survive next week.  The training has given me a skill that I am proud of and now I can see a brighter future for myself."

Meanwhile, Davis said he feels motivation and loyalty towards the company that gave him a chance. The success of Bahamas Striping comes as Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, announced the Job Readiness and Training Initiative yesterday to help promote greater Bahamian employment.

According to Mitchell, one of his greatest motivations when he established Bahamas Striping was Road Grip, a foreign company that has not trained any locals in the past 10 years. He added he was "appalled" by the discovery.

Road Grip never embraced the opportunity to transfer such skills to empower Bahamians, he said.

"From my view, having made hundreds of millions of dollars here, they failed the Bahamian people as a responsible corporate citizen," Mitchell said.

To help pass on the skills to his staff, Mitchell has succeeded where Road Grip failed. The Bahamas Striping's training technician, Brian Bostock from the UK, holds a National Vocational Qualification Level 2 in road marking. He has been brought in to ensure current staff, and those of the future, possess the right expertise for long-term employment. For Mitchell, the real focus is not just creating employees, but nation-builders that take pride in their work.

"Romell has a profound sense of pride that he as a young Bahamian was part of the team that recently marked the Lyford Cay school parking lot and East bay street and Fox Hill Road Junction near St. Anne's Church," he said.

"As a young entrepreneur, I don't want to just build a successful company.  I want to build nation builders."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian